I'm a carnivore who ate vegan for a week, and it changed the way I think about my normal diet

• Vegan diets are a lifestyle choice that require careful researching and planning.
• I signed up for a vegan meal delivery service to up my vegetable intake.
• I'm a total carnivore, but I decided to eat vegan for a week — and I really liked it. 

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I’m what my travel doctor calls an “adventurous eater.” As a frequent globetrotter, my culinary habits make her nervous. I get it. In my world, very few foods are off-limits.

In an effort to spring clean my eating habits and step up my vegetable intake, I decided to order Hungryroot, a vegan meal delivery service. For $69 per week, I’d get roughly six plant-based meals (two servings of each), such as lemon kale caesar salad, kale pesto sautéed greens, and creamy corn cauliflower risotto.

To be honest, I signed up because the dishes looked tasty and super easy to prepare. Nothing takes more than 15 minutes from start to finish. As a woman who lives alone, simplicity is key to healthy eating. If meal prep takes too long, I automatically default to take-out or going out to eat.

What I expected

I’m an earth and animal lover and see all the compelling ethical and environmental reasons why one may consider a vegan diet. However, it’s never been enough to sway me to the non-meat side. I like meat and have never been able to wrap my mind around meat substitutes.  

I thought for sure I’d break down at some point during the week and have a cheeseburger emergency. I was also convinced that I’d be in a constant state of hunger. There’s no way tofu and veggies could be filling, right?

I assumed I’d feel better health-wise, but wasn’t sure how that would manifest itself.

I tried to keep an open mind and be OK with whatever happened. And if I did have a bacon breakdown, I decided that I wouldn’t beat myself up. Baby steps!

Here’s how the great meat-free experiment went:

I slept better than ever

Sleep isn’t always my friend (although the snooze button sure is). I was able to fall asleep more easily than usual and log eight solid hours of z’s every night.

I had more energy

I tend to have a lot of energy but noticed a definite uptick during my workouts this week. I felt like I got more out my classes and was able to go harder. There were even a few days where I worked out and went for a run. That’s borderline athletic!

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